Attachment for automatic guns.



G. C. BLICKENSDERFER, DECD.

w. I. aLIcKENsDEIIFER a s. s. MAPEs. Execuruns.

ATTACHMENT FOR AUTOMATICGUNS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. s, 19H.

iff/ff Patented Jan. 1919.

U TESI? S AES PATENT OFFICE.1

GEORGE C. BLICKENSDERFER, OF STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT; WILLIAM J'. BLICKENS- DERFER .AND STEPHEN S. IVIAPES EXECUTORS OFSAID GEORGE C. BLICKENSDERFER,

DECEASED.

ATTACHMENT FOR AUTOMATIC GUNS.

Application led March 6, 1917. Serial No. 152,556.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE C. BLIcxENs- Y DERFER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Stamford, county of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Attachments for Automatic Guns, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relatesto belt cutting attachments for automatic guns. y

In an automatic gun of the belt feed type, cartridges are carried in pockets in a long belt of canvas or similar material. It has been the usual practice to allow the emptied portion of the belt, as it progresses through the gun during the firing operation, to coil or fold up in a box or the like. In the use of such guns in certain circumstances, however, the emptied portion of the belt and any receiving box become inconvenient. For example, when such a gun is used in aeroplanes, the emptied portion of the belt if running free, becomes troublesome and the use of a receiving box is undesirable because of the added weight and space involved.

It is the object of the present invention to do away with these and similar objections and to get rid of the emptied portion of the belt by cutting oil the same as it emerges from the gun.

The following specification describes and the accompanying drawing illustrates a belt cutting attachment for automatic guns constructed in accordance with the present invention, it being understood that changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the invention, the form herein described being a preferred embodiment thereof.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a side elevation, with parts in section, of a portion of an automatic gun of the belt feed type having associated therewith a belt cutting device constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same, and

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view (enlarged), the section being taken on the broken line 3 3, Fig. 1.

.Although the invention is applicable to Speeication of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 7, 1919.

any gun of the belt feed type, the gun chosen for illustration and description, is a wellknown form of automatic gun in which the parts are operated by a reciprocating cocking lever.4 i v Referring to the drawing, 10 represents the barrel of an automatic gun of the type and form mentioned, having near the muzzle a small vent 11, opening downward from the bore into a gas cylinder 12. -Fitting in the latter isl a piston 13 pivotally secured to the end of a cooking lever 14:. This cocking lever is pivoted to the gun, as at 15, so as to reciprocate as the gun is operated. When a cartridge is red and` before the bullet leaves the muzzle, the pressure of the expanding powder gases against the piston 13 throws the cooking lever back through a considerable arc to substantially the position shown in broken linesVv in F ig; 1. The cooking lever after having been Y thrown back by the expanded gases` is returned to its former position by any desirable means, such, for example, as those shown in copending application, Serial No. 123,826. Cartridges 16 are held in the loops or pockets of a belt 17 and are positioned for tiring by a scalloped star-wheel 18, as appears in Fig. 3. Thereciprocation of the cooking lever, as above described, causes the belt to be fed forward step by step and prepares the gun for each successive discharge in a manner well-known in the art, and which it is unnecessary to describe here. As the gun is operated the emptied belt passes out through a belt exit 19 formed in the side of the gun, as more clearly appears in Fig. 3. The invention includes a cutting device arranged to be operated by the gun to cut off the emptied portion of the belt, and in structures embodying the invention to the best advantage, when the gun in question comprises a part arranged to move during the recoil and return of the gun, the cutting device is arranged to be operated by such moving part, as, for example, the cooking lever forming a part of the gun herein illustrated. Although capable of various constructions, in the present embodiment, secured to the side of the gun is an attachment plate 20 cut away, as shown, to form an opening 21 corresponding to the belt exit of the gun, and through which the emptied portion of the belt passes, Sliding between Y io ' overV a pinY 3l carried bythe"cocknglever;

' turn pivoted to the plate 20. To operatethe fknifeityis pivotally connectedvtoalink- 27 V which is, in turn, pivotallyconnected to a slotteil.link l` This latter member is .piwf

; swing of'thejcockinglever,` through' the 'slot 'Y Y this p1ate20 and guidesf 22,1'securedto the former; isaknife inembe'r'QS having'ablad'e 2li. VThis knife is `situated to move Vtransversely Aof the *beltV exit and is pivotally hung` on parallel; armsf, A26; vwhich are:I in

otedto the gun, as at 29 andits slot 3 0 rides .When the* gun, Visloperated the backward Y ing cut. j The re'tnrn of the cccking` lever to its" normal positron, 1n a1-similar 'manner "re- Y turns the other partis to; their originalE ,p osi@ 'tionlr Thus, v the operation of" Ythe gun,Y

tiiiugl the reciprocationtof'- the cocking movie" transversely fof vtlie belt exitv to'cut" o'tf; f

each; discharge i of the' gun, ,c a portion of the .emptiedv bfeltequalv tothe amount fed.Y

ffEig; 3 showsy the end"` K Ofr theiemptiedbelt fa lpt )sition to have' another section vcut off',

fen tenth@ dottedI une position Yof and it is noted"that.thereisgsubstantially no par'tof' the belt extending'beyond the gun itself. It is noted, further, that the cutting device yis. readily available. both for new vmatic gun, of va cutting devicevarranged to be operatged'bytlie'gun to cut off the emptied portion of the belt. Y Y- fc 12. The combination with an automatic belt-feed gun-"having a part arrangedto move during the recoil and'freturn oftlie gun, of a cutting device arrangedtobe oper.- Y

VVated by said'` movingipart' toV cut" .ojfl VYthe emptied portieri ofthe,"belt.V Y

3; The combination,- With ,ai belt feed automatic gunhiing an operating leveroperating during recoil, of acuttingfmechanism YYconnected, tov said 'operating lever. arfldirar-V 'ranged`- to'cut'V olfthe emptied portion of't-he belt. Y v Thecombinatioinwith a belt feed auto- I l finaticgu-Ir,V lof a cutting'bladearrangedto leyer", reciprocatesfthe kmfegandicauses it to ,Y

more transversely'ofthe belt eXitto sever" Y Groeninfo.tBiLicKENsDE-RFEB;

' Washingtp', mcs 

